Dashboard camera captures taxi driver's robbery

Suspect repeatedly threatened to kill driver

Fort Lauderdale Police are searching for an armed robber who held up a Yellow… (Fort Lauderdale Police,…)

February 5, 2013|By Wayne K. Roustan, Sun Sentinel

Fort Lauderdale Police are searching for a man who threatened to shoot a taxi driver during a robbery Friday.

The crime was recorded by a recently installed dashboard video camera and investigators are hoping someone will recognize the robber and report him.

The holdup happened around 1:30 a.m. at 1318 NW Seventh Court.

Yellow Cab dispatched a driver to Plantation General Hospital to pick up a customer named "Smith." When the taxi driver picked up his fare at the main entrance of the hospital, "Smith" told him to drive to Northwest Seventh Street, police said.

When they arrived, the suspect told the driver that he was armed and ordered the driver to give him all his valuables, the video showed.

The driver grabbed the suspect's right wrist in an apparent attempt to prevent him from pulling out a weapon. The taxi coasted toward the wall of a building as they struggled. The victim then pointed to the security camera inside the cab.

"The camera's up there," the driver said, motioning with his hand toward the dashboard.

The armed robber reached toward his waistband and continued to yell his demands at the driver.

"Give me your money or I'll kill you," the suspect repeated.

The driver complied, giving up his GPS, iPhone and an undisclosed amount of cash before the suspect ran west past the 1300 block of Northwest Seventh Street, police said.

He was described as being in his 30s, approximately 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, clean-shaven with short hair. The suspect was wearing a camouflage tank top, shorts and appeared to have a six-letter word tattooed on his right forearm.

Investigators are urging anyone with information about the robbery or the identity of the suspect to call Detective Elijah Thomas at 954-828-6093.